Garlic Pea Puree

My Garlic Pea Puree is a great way to keep something just that bit more exciting than plain frozen peas on standby to help bulk up a meal and provide one of your five a day. I make a small batch and freeze in individual portions. Just don’t call them fancy mushy peas!

I love veg but on a weeknight, I’m impatient and even though realistically this only takes a few minutes to whip up, I’m a clean-up dodger too and the concept of getting the processor out of the cupboard and having to put it away again is too much for me. So I try to prep easy to microwave veg and keep it in the freezer for such evenings.

The recipe is inspired by a Nigella Lawson (there is a theme on this website – have you noticed!) side which she serves with pan fried salmon and crispy bits of bacon – quite often how I eat it too.

One of my other favourite almost-instant meals is my Pan Fried Gnocchi with Chicken Meatballs and Garlic Pea Puree where I utilise my pre-prepped Pea Puree along with frozen meatballs and crispy but fluffy potato gnocchi. Its a perfect example of how a little bit of batch cooking can save so much time when throwing together a weeknight dinner.

Feel free to scale the recipe up and freeze in other portions sizes – if you generally cook for two then freeze the given quantity in two batches.

Ingredients:

Ingredient Notes:

Use petit pois, garden peas or tinned peas as you prefer and have on hand. Don’t use mushy peas – they are a whole different kind of pea (marrowfat).

I use jars of garlic paste which I get from the world food aisle of the supermarket – they’re cheaper than the same from the spice section and seem to contain much more actual garlic instead of fillers and oil. You could of course mash up a large clove of fresh garlic here but I’m lazy so I have jars. I do find I create less food waste this way.

You could use full fat crème cheese or crème fraiche or even double cream here but I like the tang of the cream cheese and its what I generally have in my fridge.

Equipment Notes:

I boil my peas and garlic in a plastic bowl filled with water for about 10 minutes. You can equally go traditional and use a pan on the hob.

To freeze the finished puree I use the sandwich bags from Ikea – the smallest ones in this case – they’re excellent as they’re good and thick, come in a variety of sizes and have a double seal. Otherwise I’d recommend zip-lock bags to minimise chances of spillage.

Write in black permanent pen on the sandwich bag what it is and the date you made it. I tend to write the calorie count on too for my easy reference.

Method:

Drain the warmed peas and put into a food processor or blender – a food processor is preferable.

Blitz until fairly smooth – it won’t ever go smooth smooth because of the skins but stop at the texture you prefer.

Add the 100g Light Soft Cream Cheese and blitz again until combined.

Add Sea Salt Flakes to taste. Add a little at a time and blitz quickly before tasting – you can add more but you can’t take it back out.

Divide the mix into 4 freezer bags, remove the air and seal. Leave to cool then pop in the freezer flattened to maximise space.

To Use

Place a frozen portion on a thin plate and microwave for few minutes – I sometimes break the bulk of the contents up with my fingers while still in the bag to speed things up.

Alternatively, empty the contents into a saucepan and warm through.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

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More

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